Always Knew
by AniMeViEtGrl
Summary: He had a hunch that she had always known he was no ordinary exchange student from England...ExT [oneshot]


Here's a treat to all my lovable readers out there! Enjoy!

Notes: This takes place during the 12th book of Cardcaptor Sakura! Between the scene when Eriol talks to Yue and the following morning after. So basically, after Eriol says "As for Sakura's number one, we will find out shortly…" or something along those lines.

-Standard disclaimers apply-

_**Always Knew**_

"Are you sure Tomoyo-chan?" The card mistress asked the Daidouji heiress, her voice filled with uncertainty. Sakura looked towards the long stretch of road blanketed by the dark night. She gave another hesitant look to her friend.

"It's fine Sakura-chan! You have to take Touya and your father home right?" Tomoyo reassured the emerald-eyed lass. "I just have to meet my bodyguards at Penguin Park, it's not a far walk from here" Tomoyo gave her another reassuring smile.

"But…" Sakura looked at the darkness of the night again, her eyes filled with worry.

"I'll walk you home Daidouji…" Syaoran spoke up, seeing as how much Sakura was troubled by the idea of having her best friend walk along the dark streets of Tomoeda alone. Sakura looked at Syaoran, the sudden worry changing into happiness.

"Really Syaoran-kun?" Sakura held his hands happily causing the Li heir to blush madly.

The boy merely nodded in response.

"Thank-you so much!" Sakura hugged him. She knew she couldn't let Tomoyo go alone and knowing that Syaoran would accompany her made her feel a lot less worried. The new card mistress released her bear hug on the chestnut-haired boy and excitedly went back inside the Hiiragizawa manor to fetch Kero.

When Sakura was finally out of sight, Tomoyo stared at Syaoran.

"W-What?" He said instantly, his cheeks aflame. Tomoyo giggled and pulled on his arm, whispering into his ear…

"Go accompany Sakura-chan home! She needs your help carrying her father and Touya home! I'll be FINE!"

Before Li could protest, Tomoyo had run off to hide behind a tree, her finger held up to her lips as she passed Eriol, Kaho, Nakuru and Spinel, smiling. The four looked at the raven-haired beauty in sheer amusement or confusion, but they soon turned away as they saw Sakura exiting the house.

"Kero! I can't believe you ate all of Eriol-kun's snacks! You're such a pig!" Sakura fumed at the guardian beast floating by her side, his face covered with crumbs.

"What?! But Clow offered us the snacks!" Kero protested, his mouth still stuffed with cookies. Sakura sighed and muttered something about punishing the plushie later. She walked up to the group and immediately noticed something was wrong.

"Huh? Where's Tomoyo-chan?" She questioned no one in particular, checking around to see if she had just missed seeing her friend. Syaoran was about to point to the nearby tree when a voice cut him off.

"Daidouji-san went home already" Ruby Moon chirped, "…right Yue?" She elbowed the stoic angel who had just arrived minutes before the card mistress, Touya being held in his arms. Yue looked at the noisy woman annoyingly but quietly nodded anyways.

"Tomoyo-chan went home by herself?!" Sakura gasped looking back at the lonesome road. She would have ran off after the young heiress had not a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"No Sakura-san, her bodyguards picked her up" Eriol spoke up, he gave a quick glance towards a particular tree.

"I saw her making a call earlier...she must've told her bodyguards to pick her up here..." Kaho added, making sure not to giggle at the confusion that dawned on the brunette's face. Sakura looked at Syaoran who had been quiet the whole time.

Tomoyo, who was still behind the tree looked at Li, hoping that he would not blow the chance she gave him.

"I—umm" The Chinese boy mumbled as he stared into Sakura's alluring emerald orbs. He suddenly felt something cold run up his spine and realized that it was the cold hard stares he was receiving from the rest of the group.

"Y-Yeah, she told me to tell you she said goodbye and that she'd see you in school tomorrow" Syaoran managed to tell Sakura. The girl's confusion lessened and relief soon filled her eyes.

"Oh...okay then...that's good!..." Sakura sighed in relief.

"Oh! You should get going home too Syaoran-kun! It's getting late! Don't you have cleaning duty tomorrow?" Sakura asked him, perplexed. Syaoran once again found himself having nothing to say, since he was being sucked into her hypnotic eyes once more.

"He said he would help you carry Touya and your father home...**_right_**?" Eriol placed a hand on his descendant's shoulder, smiling. Syaoran nodded before he could realize what he had actually agreed to do.

Tomoyo watched the scene through the lens of her camera, shaking her head. "Poor Li-kun…but this is for the best…" Tomoyo giggled as she zoomed in on the Chinese boy's face. As she zoomed in, she realized from the corner of the screen, a certain reincarnation of Clow Reed had just winked at her, a wry smile playing on his lips.

Tomoyo couldn't help but smile back.

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O

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"Hmm..I feel bad lying to Sakura-chan…" Tomoyo spoke to herself , but her guilt easily faded away as she saw Li's crimson face under the streetlight. She decided to wait until said person and her guardians (and Syaoran) left the Hiiragizawa estate. After waiting a few minutes longer, Tomoyo came out from her hiding spot while calmly dusting off the leaves from her skirt. She soon found 4 pairs of eyes staring at her and brought her gaze up to the four.

"Thank-you for covering me" Tomoyo bowed politely, her raven tresses falling off her shoulders to frame her face.

"No problem Daidouji-san" Kaho smiled at her. "It was very kind of you to do that" Tomoyo gave a brilliant smile back knowing what her sensei meant.

"Well, I must be on my way home then" Tomoyo stated as she recapped the lens on her video camera. "Thank-you for having me" She bowed again. Kaho looked at Eriol expectantly who gave her a slight nod.

"Why don't I accompany you Daidouji-san" Eriol offered.

Tomoyo blinked, looking behind her to make sure he wasn't talking to some OTHER Daidouji-san. Eriol chuckled at her antics and ushered her passed the iron gates while waving back at the other three.

X

O

X

The two walked in comfortable silence side by side, both staring at the stars.

"So…" Tomoyo began, breaking the silence.

"I assume there is a reason behind you escorting me home, am I right Hiiragizawa-kun?" Tomoyo gave him a sidelong glance, a smile forming on her lips. Eriol shook his head and looked back at her.

"As perceptive as always" He sighed, and Tomoyo laughed. Eriol paused for a moment until the silence settled back in.

"How long…?" He began again.

Tomoyo, who had begun to hum quietly to herself paused, giving the mage a questioning look.

"How long what?" Tomoyo urged him on. Eriol almost laughed. The Daidouji heiress was the only one who could pull off such a convincing act.

"You know as well as I do Daidouji-san, what I am talking about" Eriol replied lightly. Tomoyo laughed, to the reincarnation's surprise.

"I'm sorry Hiiragizawa-kun, I was only teasing" She laughed again.

"How long have I known, you mean?" Tomoyo questioned.

His azure eyes told her yes.

"That time, when I revealed myself to the three of you, your expression was not that of surprise" Eriol stated matter-of-factly. Tomoyo let the information dawn on her.

"Really?? Then I guess I should've done a better job at hiding it then…" Tomoyo tapped her chin thoughtfully. Eriol chuckled.

"Well…I have to admit that I didn't know you were actually Clow-san" Tomoyo continued, her eyes closed.

"Although, I did know, that you weren't just an exchange student from England" She opened her eyes again, staring into his azure ones.

"And how did you come to that conclusion?" The sorcerer asked intrigued.

"I had theorized it ever since that time you used threads to control Li-kun. After all, wasn't it ironic that it happened to him right after you had bought threads?" Tomoyo smiled at him.

"And…it also raised my suspicions when I remembered you telling Sakura-chan that there were 'other' uses for thread besides sewing"

"Surely you couldn't have thought up all of that on that one event alone…?" Eriol questioned again. Tomoyo was about to respond when she suddenly sneezed. She stopped in the middle of the street, rubbing her arms together attempting to create enough body heat to warm her up. Eriol looked at the young girl trying to perform the impossible on this chilly night. He shrugged off his cloak and wrapped it around her to the girl's surprise.

"T-Thank-you…" Tomoyo said as she pulled the cloak around her more.

"Well…" Tomoyo began again, continuing their earlier conversation. The two began to walk again side by side.

"Before we went to Tsukishiro-san's house to give him the bear Sakura-chan made, I noticed that the bear looked different from before and she told me that you helped her fix it" Tomoyo looked at Eriol, wondering if he was still following her...he was.

"It wasn't until after the bear became gigantic and began to attack us that my suspicions about you grew again. Eriol rubbed his chin, thoughtful.

"It's a surprise to me how no one suspected you..." Tomoyo added.

"Also, the reason why I didn't confront you about it…" Tomoyo said, knowing that it was the answer to the question Eriol would ask her next.

"…was because I knew there was some hidden motive for you to be doing this to Sakura-chan" Tomoyo finished. There was a long silence before Eriol spoke up.

"...And what if my intentions had been bad?" Eriol asked her.

Tomoyo laughed once again surprising the azure-eyed lad.

"Someone who watches over Sakura-chan and Li-kun with such kind eyes like yours…" Tomoyo paused, her eyes straight ahead. The evening wind danced with her long tresses and she gently brushed the strands behind her ear. She turned her gaze towards him, looking into his eyes carefully. Eriol saw great wisdom and kindness in her amethyst orbs.

"…could not possibly be a bad guy am I right?" She smiled again. She walked a few paces ahead of him and turned around to look at him...

"Now...I have a question for you..." She stated seriously. The magician stopped in his tracks and looked at her quizzically.

"If you knew that I knew...why didn't you do anything about it? Wouldn't my knowing cause you problems?" The heiress asked. Eriol smiled at her.

"Yes...it would have been very problematic..." Eriol agreed.

"I had thought about erasing your memories, as I did with Yue..." Eriol looked at the young girl in front of him.

"But Kaho told me you wouldn't cause us trouble, so I took her word for it" Eriol pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"I'm glad I trusted her judgement...it wouldn't have been very pleasurable erasing your memories..." Tomoyo got a good long stare at the mysterous reincarnate.

"I guess I should thank Mizuki-sensei then..." Tomoyo giggled. She waited for Eriol to catch up to her and they continued to walk together again.

"I must say..." Eriol continued.

"...your schemes involving Syaoran's love life amused me" he chuckled.

Tomoyo laughed.

"I'm glad I could entertain the former most powerful magician of all time"

"But it wasn't just me...you helped too..." Tomoyo pointed out, fixing the cloak around her shoulders.. Eriol laughed, the girl was right of course.

Eriol stopped walking. He seemed to be lost in his thoughts.

"...You really are a very kind and heart-warming person…Tomoyo-san" Eriol spoke his thoughts aloud to his and Tomoyo's surprise. Eriol was about to apologize for using her first name without permission when Tomoyo's hand found its way to his. She squeezed it gently.

"Thank-you, Eriol-kun, for looking after Sakura-chan and Li-kun" She smiled that angelic smile again. Eriol smiled back in return.

"No…" he murmured in her ear as he gave her a quick hug. Tomoyo, who was now way beyond shocked, could do nothing more but hug the magician back, another smile forming on her lips.

Eriol released her and kneeled on the ground, holding her right hand in his. Tomoyo looked at him confused before all thoughts halted from her brain as he brought his lips to the back of her hand. "...thank-**_you_**" He finished, looking back up at her before smiling again.

Tomoyo was well aware of the fact that her face was as red as Syaoran's was when he saw his cherry blossom. For once she was glad the mage didn't notice for it was too dark outside.

"Tomoyo-sama!" A voice brought Tomoyo back to reality as she turned around to see her bodyguards rushing up to her. Tomoyo didn't notice that Eriol's hand had long been removed from hers and by the time she DID realize, he had already disappeared into the night.

"Your mother is worried sick about you Tomoyo-sama…" Her bodyguards lead the girl to the limo that was parked in front of the Penguin Park, which was just a few yards away from where she and Eriol had stood.

Funny…she didn't realize they had arrived at the park already.

Tomoyo turned back to look at the now empty street where Eriol and she had stood just a few moments ago.

One thought ran through Tomoyo's head then…

"Eriol-kun…" Tomoyo whispered, as she secured the cloak around her firmly and began to walk towards the limo…

"…he forgot to take his cloak back…" she said innocently before the car door slammed after her and the limo drove out of Penguin Park, and out of sight.

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- The...end??

DWAAHHH!! Don't kill me! I was tempted to write more but I feel like it's good to leave it here...

this story totally went in a different direction then I anticipated...it's the first time I've written a very light ExT story...

and for once there was no Kaho-bashing from me lol

Read and Review please!!

Sequel anyone??? (smiles)

...although i don't know how I'll write a sequel to a story that's already pretty much concluded...


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